


Forever, Claire

by AbbyDebeaupre



Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Book 3: Voyager, Canon Compliant, F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 05:45:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12977313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbyDebeaupre/pseuds/AbbyDebeaupre
Summary: He wondered if Claire could see it yet…but how could she not? This light was like the sun, luminous and radiant.





	Forever, Claire

Ian was set to gather firewood while Lawrence foraged and I set Jamie down with a pan of water, to tend the damage to his head. … then suddenly with no warning whatever, began to cry….Sassenach are ye alright?” …I don’t know why I am c-crying. I d-don’t know.”

Jamie, alarmed at first, tightly gripped her slackened body. After a few moments of reflection, he relaxed.

“I have ye, yer alright, we are fine, Sassenach.” He inhaled her warm, earthy scent and bit back a smile as he realized the powerful truth of his words.

His wife was the bravest person he knew. Fierce and strong always but never more so than in this moment of surrender; allowing herself to be completely vulnerable as she worked to conquer the terror and fear welling up inside. She was struggling with the fact that she had unintentionally placed them and Brianna, too, in jeopardy.  

Claire let him hold her while she let go of her illusion of being in control. Despite the uncertainties that lay ahead, her heart had made its decision. Even with all that had happened their relationship remained the one thing that still made sense to her: solid, inexorable and true. The stone circle was still too close to them for Jamie’s own peace of mind, but now that he understood Claire had no desire to return to her time and no regrets about her decision to stay, he did not fear their proximity.  

Jamie’s mind travelled back in time to the first time he returned with her to the standing stones at Craig Na Dunne. Leading her up that hill to return, he thought, to Frank and losing the very heartbeat and breath of his body. The miracle of waking to her in his arms stirred him even now in memory.

That night she had wept much the same as she was doing now, the great racking sobs of letting go of one path in order to embrace another, coming as it did with sorrow and joy, and finally, with it, peace. Peace in knowing that she had made the right decision in coming back, in trusting him to be the one to protect her and hold her together until she could find a way to to do it for herself.

How many times had their roles been reversed? Had she had been the one offering him her strength, her faith, the shelter of her arms picking up the broken thing lying helplessly before her?

Vividly he could recall those moments when he, hoping for mercy only, was given boundless comfort, grace and love instead. Her protecting him until, seeing himself through her eyes, he would be able to arise with his feet planted on firm ground once more.

For months Jamie had been holding his breath, not daring to wake from this magical dream, this unexpected future. Close….so close but just out of reach. He had prayed that they would be able to find a way through the twenty year tunnel of darkness separating them.

Up until this moment– Claire’s sudden collapse and unexpected emotional release in his arms– he wasn’t at all sure they’d be able to pull each other into the light that had been beckoning since he came to, his head cradled in her lap, on the print shop floor.

 _Ah Dhia_! He wondered if Claire could see it yet…but how could she not? This light was like the sun, luminous and radiant.

“Home,”  he whispered low and reverently, “at last, we are home,” sighing in the perfection of that thought as he held her trusting fully the elemental connection between them that had no name but, renewed, had only grown and strengthened.

Jamie’s hand cradled her neck up into her curls. He made a deep sound of Scottish contentment and pressed his lips to the corner of one of her eyes, then the other, tasting the salt in her tears.  He’d caught her off guard and she hiccupped a small laugh which fanned the glow of his joy.  Jamie became unnaturally aware of her pulse beat and heard the hitch in her throat.

He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat with no warning and felt a tear spring from his own eye, as, bodies swaying they moved truly as one, once again.That their shared unity should seize him now, holding her in broad daylight, fully clothed seemed to be a trivial distinction. Claire was shaking still but no longer with tears.  Jamie hoped that would camouflage his own trembling– not just in grateful relief but now in anticipation of what he knew Claire would need when her full awareness returned.

A small sound caught his attention just beyond the clearing. Jamie opened his eyes and he caught sight of Lawrence Stern wearing a slightly startled expression that was quickly replaced by a soft look of understanding as he stared at the remarkable sight of Claire Fraser, stalwart, unflappable, competent and capable Claire Fraser weeping like a befuddled lost lamb, practically sitting on Jamie’s lap, a rag doll in his arms.  Stern abruptly turned and called out to Ian.  

“Ian, lad, we must move the campsite to the other side of the brook, just down there by the trees.”

“Oh?” Ian was momentarily startled but caught the logs he was holding in his arms before they all tumbled to the ground; he had been about to stack them for later in the evening.

Exhausted, but feeling safe for the first time in weeks, Ian never even questioned the abrupt change of plans but allowed Stern to lead him a good distance and out of the line of sight of his Aunt and Uncle– well out of earshot, too.

************

“I-I’m sorry.” Claire whispered into his shirt. Jamie couldn’t contain his smile now.

“Sorry are ye? For what, Sassenach?” he asked, reluctantly loosening his grip to allow her to lean her head back and look him in the eyes.  Golden, troubled, brimming with unshed tears mirrors to her soul and so very precious to him.

“I am not normally like this, I didn’t mean to–”

“Hush,” Jamie moved his fingers lightly tracing the curve of her cheek. “To hold you here wi’ me, letting me comfort you, knowing Brianna and Ian are safe…. Sassenach, ye can blubber and cry and snot all over me. I dinna mind, truly.”

Claire smiled and leaned into his warm hand, choking on an unexpected laugh as she wiped her face with his proffered kerchief.

“Oh Jamie, I love you!” she said it off-hand but suddenly stilled.

His hand stilled as well. Jamie wanted her to look up at him, needed to see the truth of it play across her face but she surprised him.  She turned into his hand, closed her eyes and said again with trembling voice, “God, how I love you” and nuzzled his open palm.  

He was about to reply when she launched herself at him. Jamie had the space of half a heartbeat and then he found himself clutched up against her, lips locked, his hands roughly twined in her hair, desperately trying to keep them upright. Claire, with her instinctive awareness of his body, forced her fingers to steer clear of his scalp even as she drew him firmly to her.  

She ground herself against the hardness he made no effort to hide. His heart raced as her lips took possession of his, over and over and the whimpering noises rising between them spurred both of them on.

“Jamie….” she whispered raggedly, rocking herself against him. Mindlessly she rose up and back, drawing her body over him, wanting more. She had to feel him. “Please..” she whimpered again, dazed and pulling at him.

Her lips nuzzling his ear, humming as she did so, sent a thrill down to the pit of his stomach.  His nipples hardened and stayed that way as she kissed and playfully nipped along his jawline, seizing his mouth in another searing kiss.

“Claire, oh Jesus” he managed between kisses that stole his breath.

Jamie held himself in tight restraint, even though every nerve ending urged him to action.  He ached to take command of her lips, rip her dress from her bodice, free his cock and impale himself on her as she groaned and writhed over him.

The effort it took to hold still with the sounds she was making, heedless of little scratches and scrapes she left on his arm, stomach, thighs, grabbing and grasping. Jamie’s balls constricted so painfully he groaned in turn and clenched his arms to his sides to stop himself from doing what his primal urges demanded.

He sensed that there was something more elemental under the surface.  This was not merely sexual play. Claire often needed to touch, taste and move in order to make something known to herself. Letting her reclaim herself, knowing she was back in control, he could return the gift of her trust now, let his actions prove that he fully trusted her to direct the two of them toward a new, shared destiny.  

Decision made, Jamie leaned back and dug his fingers into the earth behind him to keep them from inadvertently taking over.

It was Claire who worked the laces of his breeks “Jesus H. Roosev—Oh!” Freed at last, she grabbed his shaft. Jamie let out a grateful “Ah!” As he was sprung, his intimate heat radiated outward.

Then she paused.  Hot and hard, her cool, assured hand enjoying the small amount of wetness seeping across her knuckles. Jamie struggled for air, shuddered and forced his head to rise. She stared into those deep, fathomless, blue eyes.

“I will not go back.I cannot live a half a  life again. Whatever else comes, whatever else happens, we face it together or not at all!”  she said annunciating each word clearly in her proper accent.

He tried to nod, but must not have done a good job.

She swallowed hard, released her hold on him and, grabbing his shirt, pulling it across his chest, fisting and twisting it to be sure she had his attention.

“Sass—”

“Do you understand?” She interrupted him. He couldn’t speak, his gaze dropping to follow the lines of her body where it hovered just over his.  

“Mine! Now and forever” She deliberately slid down, the tip of his engorgement just barely touching her swollen entrance; he softly moaned in exquisite anticipation.

“Do you hear me?”

“Aye,” he croaked out, “I hear you.”

His stomach muscles clenched tightly in restraint or maybe in anticipation as she thrust down hard and fully onto him.

Jamie gave her a moan of satisfaction as she sought to impress her ownership of his soul onto him. She rose and fell, each movement powerful and so very satisfying.

Jamie knew this was what Claire had to do, not for him but for herself. He had been hers, body and soul, from the moment he fell off the horse twenty-three years ago and came to with her cursing a blue streak at him.

He felt just as dizzy now, his eyes no longer able to focus, and, enthralled by her desperate urgency, was caught off guard and started to orgasm, he gave a small grunt as he reached behind her and tugged hard on his testicles to regain control. The intense rush of pleasure and its abrupt halt leaving him with sweat running from his forehead, panting in need.

Fascinated, Claire let out an impressed, “Oh, God!”

“Just me, Sassenach.” He hardened even more and used his hands on her hips to brace and strengthen her movement.

Claire rocked her torso back and let go completely. Jamie watched in reverent awe as her jaw clenched and her neck stiffened. She opened her mouth dragging in air and her eyes were starting to water.   

Jamie had his own jaw painfully clenched, all the while she kept shuddering and soaking him. Joyful in her ecstasy, a sight to behold. Claire began to move again, opened her eyes then and looked directly at him, through to his heart. Jamie inhaled a desperately needed breath, rocking urgently.  

Claire’s eyes never left his;  she started to make mewling sounds in the back of her throat. She twisted harder, need rising within and took possession of his mouth. Jamie used his thumb pressing up and in, in time with her darting tongue in his mouth.

His stomach clenched again. His balls tightened as her inner walls bore down, clutching and releasing him in a wicked tempo. Jamie grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced her head back down again, her glazed eyes opened in surprise and he knew he had her attention.  

It was he who was looking straight into her soul now, “I am yours, always!” he said, “Can ye feel it Claire? Deep inside you as you are in me?”

He pulled hard, needing to sink even deeper into her, possess her, own her as she owned him. She nodded, mute.

“God, I need to…All of ye, now, Claire!”

In visceral reaction to his words, she bore all her weight full down on him.  An explosion behind his eyes, like lightning with an answering thunder straight into the core of him. He heard himself grunting like an animal. He did not care. Nothing mattered but the joining of himself inside her. Nothing mattered but that she was his and he hers.

“Always.” she whispered.

“Forever, Claire.”

 

 


End file.
